Below The Beltway

The latest Public Policy Polling poll of Virginia voters reveals several interesting results:
-49% of likely voters for this fall say they oppose Barack Obama’s plans for health care, while just 38% are in support. This generally tracks PPP’s polling on the issue both nationally and in Colorado and North Carolina, two states that he won [...]

The former Governor and Senator is once again becoming a force in Virginia politics:
It has been three years since Allen’s now-infamous campaign trail stumble that stirred racial tensions in Virginia and undercut a political arc that was headed for a run at the White House. Today, a humbled Allen is stepping back into the spotlight, [...]

According to one Maryland newspaper, George Allen is on the short-list for the Republican Veep nominee:
The Washington County Republican Central Committee is inviting Frederick residents to attend its annual Lincoln Day Dinner this week.
The keynote speaker will be former Virginia Gov. and U.S. Sen. George Allen Jr., who is on the short list for selection [...]

Here’s how things seem to look one day after the vote in Virginia, Maryland and D.C.
Republicans
If there was ever going to be a chance to stop John McCain, or force a brokered convention, it was here, specifically in Virginia. For part of the night, it looked like Mike Huckabee might actually pull it off but, [...]

Back in 2005 and 2006, when it looked like George Allen would be sailing to an easy re-election victory and the Democrats were having trouble even coming up with a candidate, there was some very serious speculation that George Allen would be the candidate that could unite conservatives in 2008.
Then, things fell apart. It wasn’t [...]

One of the enduring mysteries of the 2008 Republican race has been why the ostensibly conservative candidates — Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney — are failing to capture the attention of Republican voters. Jennifer Rubin examines the issue in the New York Observer.
First of all, Rubin correctly points out that the problem wasn’t the voters, [...]

This wasn’t supposed to have happened. Even before Virginia Democrats picked Senator-Elect Jim Webb as their nominee, the conventional wisdom was that the Democratic nominee would be a sacrificial lamb. Allen had been a popular Governor who became the only Republican to unseat a sitting Democratic Senator during the 2000 elections. His approval ratings were [...]

It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Senate race between George Allen and James Webb has become one of the dirtiest in recent memory, now it looks like it’s having an impact on the image of Virginia as a whole:
RICHMOND — Virginia is taking it on the chin these days.
Its legislature has become synonymous [...]

It isn’t even Labor Day, but the Virginia Senate race is already looking like it will turn out to be a nasty one.
RICHMOND — The campaign staff of Sen. George Allen (R) describes his Democratic opponent, James Webb, as a Hollywood elitist running a “joke” of a campaign. They call him “Junior.”
Webb’s team implies that [...]

While George Allen is concentrating on his re-election race against James Webb, he is clearly on the minds of New Hampshire Republicans:
PORTSMOUTH — U.S. Sen. George Allen of Virginia came out on top in a N.H. Insider poll that asked people whom they would vote for if the 2008 Republican presidential primary were held now.
The [...]